Sports

Stanford's Fischer up for water polo's Peter J. Cutino Award

Fischer had multi-score performances in 19 of Stanford's 24 games this season and has scored at least two goals in 37 of the 50 collegiate games she's played. Photo by David Bernal/isiphotos.com.

Stanford sophomore Makenzie Fischer was named one of three finalists for the prestigious Peter J. Cutino Award by the Olympic Club of San Francisco. The award is presented to the outstanding female and male collegiate water polo players in the United States as voted by Division I coaches.

Five Stanford women have earned the honor seven times, including five of the last seven years. Kiley Neushul (2015, 2012), Annika Dries (2014, 2011), Melissa Seidemann (2013), Jackie Frank (2003) and Brenda Villa (2002) have collected the award, which was instituted in 1999.

The winners will be announced at the 19th Annual Cutino Awards Dinner to be held Saturday, June 2 at The Olympic Club’s City Clubhouse.

Fischer is up for the award along with Amanda Longan and Paige Hauschild, both with NCAA champion USC.

The Trojans defeated Stanford, 5-4, in the national championship contest.

A 2016 Olympic gold medalist, Fischer put together a superb sophomore campaign in which she paced Stanford with 67 goals, the fifth-most in school history.

She also led the MPSF averaging 2.79 goals per game, the best for the Cardinal over the past decade (records since 2009).

Fischer, who was named to the NCAA all-tournament first team, was dominant down the stretch. In the season’s final 12 games, she scored 44 times and averaged 3.67 goals per game. Fischer had multi-score performances in 19 of Stanford's 24 games this season and has scored at least two goals in 37 of the 50 collegiate games she's played.

Considered the Heisman Trophy of water polo, the Cutino Award is given annually in honor of the late Peter J. Cutino, the former California and The Olympic Club coach, who passed away in September 2004.

He is in the U.S. Water Polo Hall of Fame, won "Water Polo Coach of the Year" 17 times and led the Golden Bears to eight NCAA Championships.

In his career, Cutino also coached in the Olympic Games, the Pan American Games, the Water Polo World Championships and the World University Games.